Campaigns

UN Small Arms Process

The final meeting of the Fifth Biennial Meeting of the States considered agenda item 10, the consideration of the Final Draft Document. Chairman Tanin introduced the oral revisions and editorial changes that would ensure the consistency of the document. Chairman Tanin asked the delegates for their consensus in the adoption of the Final Draft Document, and it was so decided. The floor was then opened for statements after the adoption.

The third meeting of the Fifth Biennial Meeting of States was called to order by moderator, Anthony Simpson, of New Zealand. This session debated on the implementation of ITI for states to identify and trace small arms and light weapons and their ammunitions in a timely manner as contained in document a/conf/192/bms/2004/1. Two brief presentations were made on the related topic as proposed by the chair.

The morning session was opened by the Deputy High Representative of Disarmament Affairs, Virginia Gamba. She recalled that while over the past years there have been major achievements, member states still faced daunting challenges and hundreds of thousands of lives across the globe were destroyed by guns. Illegal guns created crime, conflict, threatened international aid workers and impeded development.

In Israel, a newly proposed ‘Security Services Law’ threatens an existing, though un-enforced, clause of the Firearms Law that restricts security guards from taking their guns home. If the proposed law were implemented it would automatically allow security guards to take their guns home whilst off-duty.

IANSA Women all over the world are celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March, highlighting the campaign Disarm Domestic Violence, and calling for the inclusion of references to gender based violence in the Arms Trade Treaty.

Amnesty International and campaigners worldwide are calling on their governments to immediately impose an arms embargo on Libya because firearms and other weapons have reportedly been used for serious violations of international human rights law.

ASVOCO (Association de Voluntaires du Congo) launched the Week of Action with a press briefing in Goma, North Kivu, about the Central African Convention on small arms, also known as the Kinshasa Convention.

The Association of Volunteers for the Rehabilitation of Orphaned Children (AVREO) announced their the Week of Action activities in a radio programme on the ‘Messager du Peuple’ radio in Uvira, South Kiv.